New apps for cats: Cats got game!

You love playing games on your tablet: Minecraft, Heads Up!, and Fruit Ninja provide hours of entertainment when you’re bored. Why shouldn’t your tech-savvy cat have her own games to play? I think she should, so I tested some new apps for our feline friends. 

My test audience was my two Cornish Rexes, Cam and Hogan, both of whom are playful cats. I started with a free app for my iPad called Game for Cats (there’s a similar one for Android called Laser Chase). A small laser-like ball flits across the screen, emitting a soft “ding” when your cat’s paw hits it. Cats have a short attention span, so I can’t give a thumbs up unless a game keeps them occupied for at least five minutes. Surprisingly, this game held my cats’ interest for over a half-hour. I’ll give Game for Cats a thumbs up, especially since it’s free. Laser Chase is similar and even allows your cat to score points when she catches the laser dot. 

Another freebie, Crazy Cat (Android), has hopping bugs and lively mice for your kitty to hunt. An added dimension (for the human) is that, as with Laser Chase, your cat can earn points, and the faster the critter is going when your cat hits it, the higher the score. The description of Catzilla (iPad, $1.99), another game from the Game for Cats folks, intrigued me: “Catzilla is the most action-packed game for cats on the app store! Your cat is Catzilla! Destroy buildings! Battle crazy monsters!” A thumbs down for this one. My cats barely paid attention to it.

Catch and Paint Games for Cats (iPad, $1.99) features six catch games (mice, fish, and an assortment of bugs), a painting app, and a musical game.  I tried several times to entice my cats to play the musical game, to no avail, but they did show some interest in the catch and painting games.  With eight games available, this was a good buy.

I’ve saved the best for last:  Paint for Cats (iPad, $2).  Android has a similar app called Cat Canvas ($1.49).  A rainbow-colored mouse skitters across the screen.  When your feline friend taps the screen, a colorful paint splotch appears.  If she catches the mouse, there’s a loud squeak.  The result is an abstract painting by your little genius that can be printed or shared with the world via social media.  




Although not a game, here’s something that’s in the realm of cat-ertainment and is worth mentioning:  There is now music for cats!  The hypothesis posed by scientists in a recent article in Applied Animal Behaviour Science (Feb. 20, 2015) was that cats enjoy music, but not human music:  It must be species-appropriate.  They discovered that cats did, indeed, show a significant preference for music composed specifically for felines.  What folderol, I mused as I downloaded “Spook’s Ditty,” a song described as “sonic catnip.”  To my amazement, both of my cats immediately pricked their ears and jumped on my desk, trying to find the source of the music.  At $1.29, it’s a nice little perk for the pampered pussycat.

Last week my cats were harassing me for food an hour before their evening meal. I placed my iPad on the floor and opened a couple of games in sequence, which held their attention until it was time for vittles.  With the variety of feline music and game apps for Apple and Android tablets, there are probably a few your special friend will also enjoy.  They are the purrfect way to enrich her environment by sparking her prey drive and piquing her curiosity!